Opposition Leader Mousavi Hits Back At Iran's Supreme Leader

Iranian opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi
accused the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei of self-aggrandizement saying
some consider themselves at the level of the highest saints of Islam and "those
who are against violations, lies, corruption and abandoning the constitution and
bankrupting the country with made-up policies" have to stand against them.
(read the
full text in Persian)

Mir Hossein Musavi

In yesterday's ceremony marking the anniversary
of the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Republic,
the current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei accused the opposition leaders of
siding with the country's enemies and claimed that their past credentials are of
no value if they have chosen to side with the "enemies" in the present.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, once considered as one of the pillars of the Islamic
Republic regime, hit back at the Supreme Leader's statements saying it was in
fact the policies of the "cult" government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad backed by the
Supreme Leader that is ravaging Iranian economy and society.

The former Iranian Prime Minister said: "One should ask who has presented a
golden opportunity to the US, Israel, Monafeghin and the Monarchists with
destructive, non-transparent and misleading policies?" The Islamic Republic
considers the dissident group, People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran as one of
its arch-enemies and refers to it as Monafeghin.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

The opposition leader went on to ask: "Is it
those who seek freedom and justice or rather the dubious cults that have ravaged
the lives of workers, teachers, civil servants and farmers and despite their
anti-East and West slogans have provided strangers with all the hot markets of
Muslims?"

In a report posted on Kaleme website, Mir Hossein Mousavi also condemned the
actions of hecklers during the speech of Hassan Khomeini and described it as "an
engineered plan" aimed at the omission of Hassan Khomeini from the political
scene.

Mir Hossein Mousavi also questioned the sincerity of "anti-Zionist" slogans of
the current leaders of the establishment asking how come they made no reaction
to recent declarations of the leader of a friendly Arab nation.

The reference was to Beshar Assad's announcement that Iran has no objection to
the negotiations between Damascus and Tel Aviv.

The war of words between Islamic Republic establishment and the opposition has
sharpened with the approach of the anniversary of the controversial 2009
presidential elections which the opposition claims was rigged to secure the
re-election of Ahmadinejad.

The opposition has applied for a permit to stage a peaceful demonstration on
this date which they claim is their constitutional right.

In the past year, the government has reacted violently to the peaceful protests
in connection with the elections. The government crackdown on protesters has
caused tens of death and thousands of arrests.